LEICESTER rounded off their regular ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaign with a hard-fought 46-44 win at second-bottom Oxford in a topsy-turvy encounter at Cowley.
The Watling JCB Lions have finished third in the league table with 42 points, just one behind leaders Sheffield and Grand Final opponents Ipswich in what turned out to be an extremely close competition at the top.
The meeting at Cowley was won in a last-heat decider with skipper Max Fricke and Ryan Douglas securing a 4-2 off the unfavoured gates in Heat 15 to ensure the Lions go into their title battle the week after next on a winning note.
Lions had full control in the early stages after Fricke won the coin toss and was pleased to select gates one and three for the opening race, where he and Luke Becker flew away from the start to secure a convincing 5-1 over Victor Palovaara.
Oxford captain Maciej Janowski was a retirement from that race, taking a rider replacement ride for Richard Lawson who had been declared as a guest for the Spires but did not appear on the night.
Heat 2 was re-started after a tight first bend saw Luke Killeen in the fence, and the re-run was dominated by Drew Kemp for the Lions, whilst Douglas gave the Lions a third winner out of three as he took the next race.
Those two races were both shared, but the lead was extended in Heat 4 with Sam Masters and Joe Thompson both flying away from the start. Charles Wright did pass Thompson on the last lap, but the Leicester Rising Star took a comfortable third place for a 4-2.
Lions added another 4-2 in the next as Fricke did well to win from the outside whilst Becker got the better of Janowski in a scrap for third place after the Pole lifted off the fourth bend.
Masters and Kemp gated on a 5-1 in Heat 6 but misfortune stuck on the first bend when Kemp shed a chain, restricting the visitors to a shared race, and that proved costly ahead of a run of four successive races where the home side had gates one and three.
There was a surprise in Heat 7 when Killeen wound up a big start to join Wright for a 5-1 as Douglas got squeezed out heading into turn one, and the starting positions worked for Peter Kildemand and Killeen in the next for a 5-1 over Becker to level the scores.
The home side gated again in Heat 9 before Masters managed to split Rohan Tungate and Janowski with a good outside pass, but it did put Oxford ahead, with a two-point margin maintained with a 3-3 in Heat 10 as Kyle Howarth passed Victor Palovaara for third place.
The return to gates one and three saw Lions turn the match back in their favour as Fricke and Becker launched clear of Wright and Killeen for a 5-1 in Heat 11, but Tungate frustrated them in the next as the Australian made it from gate two to defeat Douglas and Kemp for a 3-3.
Oxford edged back ahead in Heat 13 with Tungate and Wright combining to shut out every effort of Fricke, making it 40-38, but it was level again after Heat 14 where Janowski appeared to reach the start after the time allowance had expired, although he was soon out of contention as Kemp took the win whilst Kildemand got the better of Howarth for second place.
So it was 42-42 going into the last race but with the Spires having choice of gates and Tungate having reeled off three wins, they were arguably favourites – only for Fricke to make a blinder of a start from gate two to just get ahead of Tungate and clamp his rival, whilst Douglas switched back from gate four and managed to establish himself ahead of Tungate for the all-important third place as the Lions snatched the win to go along with the aggregate point.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “We’re very pleased to get the win, and it was a good meeting. Both sides were going at each other and you wouldn’t think this was an end-of-season meeting.
“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a dead rubber, because riders only know one way to race, and that’s to race flat out.
“I think everybody did that, there were one or two surprise results, but that’s what speedway brings and certainly anybody that stayed away missed a good meeting.”
Lions now prepare for the first leg of the Grand Final against Ipswich on Monday October 6, but before that Douglas stages his Testimonial Meeting at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Saturday (4pm).
OXFORD 44: Rohan Tungate 12+1, Peter Kildemand 12, Charles Wright 8+2, Luke Killeen 7+2, Maciej Janowski 3, Victor Palovaara 2+1, Erik Riss r/r.
LEICESTER 46: Max Fricke 13, Ryan Douglas 9, Sam Masters 8, Drew Kemp 7+1, Luke Becker 6+2, Kyle Howarth 2+1, Joe Thompson 1.
Leicester win the aggregate point
Photo credit: STEVE EDMUNDS
